Jill Scott and the cast of HBO's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" have garnered rave reviews and nominations this awards season, but Scott remains devastated about the passing of the series' Oscar-winning director, Anthony Minghella.

"It was a huge shock. Anthony is someone that I miss on a daily basis," she says of the filmmaker, who died of a hemorrhage following surgery in 2008. "Although I was introduced to him as a director, being in Africa together and working on a project that meant so much to him and eventually to me, he became more of a family member. It was odd and uncomfortable being on set without him. We all got together and we said his name and prayed to stay strong. Every day, I had to say his name just to continue because he was in the fabric of the character," says Scott, who had to take a minute during the interview to collect her emotions after tearing up when talking about her late friend and collaborator.

While the singer-songwriter-poet-actress certainly misses Minghella, Scott has kept busy with other projects including Tyler Perry's upcoming movie "Why Did I Get Married Too?" and "Sins of the Mother," which airs Feb. 7 on the Lifetime Movie Network. The film revolves around a grad student who returns home to face her abusive alcoholic mother -- played by Scott -- only to discover that her mom is sober and has a new life. "I definitely got an understanding of the disease of alcoholism. I put it out in the universe that I wanted to talk to people who were going through it. They came up to me at the mall or on a plane or in line at the bank," she recalls. "I don't have that particular disease, but to hear someone who is recovering talk about it opens your eyes. Unless you've walked in someone else's shoes, you have no idea. I had the honor and privilege of walking in this character's shoes and, luckily, her journey is told through a really good story."

SNOW BUSINESS: Shawn Ashmore says it took him a month in the warmth of L.A., standing by fireplaces and taking hot showers, before he got over the feeling of being chilled to the bone after making his "Frozen" thriller that opens today (2/5) -- and no wonder.
The picture has Ashmore, known as Iceman in the "X-Men" movies (yes, yes, he's heard the jokes), trapped, along with Kevin Zegers and Emma Bell, out in the open on a ski lift that's been shut down for a week. They go to extremes trying to save themselves from freezing to death.

Ashmore, his cast mates and the crew on the Adam Green movie shot it in Utah, largely at night, in temperatures that got to -4 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill. "It was brutally cold. There were actually three blizzards there while we were shooting that dropped 36-38 inches of snow," he says. "We got completely nailed. But it looks amazing in the film. It's really coming down."

He tells us that "there were rumors of a woman passing out" at the Sundance Festival midnight screening of "Frozen," where the movie was enthusiastically greeted. But as far as the fainting woman, "We couldn't verify that. Then, as we were leaving the Salt Lake City Airport, this lady came up and asked to take her picture with me, and while we were taking the photo, she said, 'I'm actually the one who passed out Sunday night.' I got a real kick out of that."

Ashmore also has the horror flick "Mother's Day" with Rebecca De Mornay coming out, and says he prefers "parts that challenge me, physically or emotionally or both." However, "if something came along that had a great love story, to be shot on a warm beach, that would be great."

THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: "CSI: Miami's" Omar Miller says that his historical drama, "Blood Done Sign My Name" is a different kind of civil rights film. "Usually, when you think civil rights, you think of Dr. King. This is a story of civil unrest. Unfortunately, one of the ways change had to happen was through civil unrest," he says of the movie in which he stars with Rick Schroder, Lela Rochon and Nate Parker. It begins its platform release Feb. 19, coinciding with Black History Month. Miller, sporting "big pork chop sideburns," plays "a character that decides to get involved in a very important civil rights march, and then gets thrown into civil unrest."

MEANWHILE: Miller had a completely different experience working on Disney's summer biggie, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," with Nicolas Cage. "It was definitely night and day. I'm used to doing small films. The first day on 'Sorcerer's Apprentice,' we had surf and turf for lunch. You knew you were in the big leagues," he reports. "It was lots of fun to make. Working with Nicolas Cage was outstanding. I found him a humble, soft-spoken, positive kind of a guy," says Miller.

With Jerry Bruckheimer producing and Jon Turteltaub directing, "Sorcerer's Apprentice" is about a wizard in modern-day New York trying to protect the city from his evil rival (Alfred Molina). There were "a lot of animals on set," says Miller. Those included wolves. Miller's animal was a little cuddlier. "I have a big, ugly, beautiful bulldog who is my character's pet in the film."


With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster